TAKING NOTES:

Going to the fair always brings out the kid in me. So it’s only fitting that I bring the kids out to the fair.

That’s what my wife and I did Tuesday night, taking our kids Danielle, Kristen and Nathan and their friends Mica and Emilia Hoffman to the Orange County Fair for an evening of fun, food and rides.

The rides part for me is always a dicey one. While the kids are happy to jump on any of the twisting, spitting, revolving or undulating steel amusements the fair carnival attraction offers up, I’ve always been a bit more hesitant to put my life and limb in harm’s way.

So at one point, I took my 4-year-old son, Nate, and we went looking for a tamer ride to conquer.

Being a surfer and all, I focused on a ride called the wave. It seemed harmless enough. Yet, as we started spinning up and down, backward, my white-knuckle grip increased and I glanced at Nate and asked him how he was doing.

Already a veteran of the Matterhorn and Space Mountain at Disneyland, Nate wasn’t the slightest bit fazed.

Meanwhile, the ride picked up speed and a loud train-like whistle bellowed out. Just at that time, mechanical arms next to us lifted a canvas tarp over our heads.

Trouble was, the tarp caught on my ear and that sort of freaked me out. But I shook it off, and we kept spinning backward up and down, up and down.

That was enough for me.

Let’s go to the pig races, I told the crew.

Off we went to root for our favorite oinker.

As usual, the All Alaskan Pig Races drew a packed house for what the announcers refer to as the “pork chop showdown.”

Danielle and Mica, future vegans perhaps, were a little offended by those pig meat references, especially the sign that said “bring home the bacon.”

I told them I was getting hungry for a ham sandwich. They didn’t appreciate my humor either.

But we all got serious when the races started. And Kristen even got picked to be a section leader, spurring us to all root for our chosen racing pig, Yukon.

“Yukon, Yukon, Yukon,” we all chanted.

It didn’t work.

Yukon came in last, with Sourdough Jack taking first place. Weird thing is I think Sourdough Jack won last year also. And the year before that and the year before that.

You see, going to the fair for me is almost like the movie “Groundhog Day,” (no pig-racing pun intended). It’s the same thing year after year, with different variations, of course, but the funny thing is it never gets old.

Pigs always race and pigs always have babies, lots of babies.

Cows get milked, and goats chew on your clothes. Carnival barkers tempt you and stuffed animals get won, and young kids bring their dates. And food gets fried, barbecued and baked.

It’s all part of what makes Costa Mesa and Orange County such a great place.

Thank you, OC Fair, for letting me be a kid again, even if it is only once a year.

TONY DODERO is the director of news and online. He can be reached at (714) 966-4608 or via e-mail at tony.dodero@latimes.com.